Originally from May 13, 2017
How To Potty Train Your Child
Has your child been resistant to toilet-training? Do they seem at least slightly interested in the bathroom experience, or uncomfortable with their diapers? Then you may consider trying a potty routine to potty-train your child.
Potty-Routine:
1. Switch from Diapers to Underwear:
Replace your child’s diapers with underwear. If your child exhibits a stress response, like refusing to pee for an entire day (whether in underwear or in the potty) *try having your child wear a diaper over their underwear to help them adjust gradually. Shift to just underwear when the stress response goes away.
2. Sing a Potty-Time Song:
Choose a song that you will sing to your child only when it is time to use the bathroom. They will then associate the song with the action. They may even start humming the song when they need to go. I didn’t want to sing a song that my son might hear another time. So I used a funny song from a bladder control commercial, but I changed the word “go” to “pee” since we used “go” often for other activities.
3. Read a Potty Book:
Reading a short picture book while your child sits on the potty gives them a set amount of time to go. They can be more patient knowing when they will be able to get up again. There is safety for your child when they know what to expect. I chose the book, “Potty” by Leslie Patricelli.
4. Always Give a Reward:
Keeping a new favorite toy up high in the bathroom that your child can only use at the end of the potty routine will motivate your child to go through the motions of using the toilet. A sticker chart did not work for my son, but some kids find them motivating. Some kids are also highly motivated by treats. The toy was the most effective thing for my son.
Use the reward that works best for your child.
5. Be Patient:
Wait until your child is ready, and be persistent. This was our experience:
My son was so resistant to potty-training at first that he repeatedly banged head against the sink out of frustration. This was a clear sign that my son was not ready to use the toilet.
For a couple years I worked on “pre-potty-training” with him. *If I’d had a potty routine earlier it likely wouldn’t have taken as long. Pre-potty-training is just going through the motions of having your child attempt to use the toilet, but not having any clear sense of whether they understand. He eventually grew out of his potty chair, so I’d eventually have him sit on the regular toilet.
I suspected my son was finally ready to try again when he started frequently choosing potty DVDs to watch. His readiness was even clearer when I was reading Boys’ Noisy Potty Book with sounds, and my son responded correctly to the interactive pages. This was another step in the right direction.
After a few more months of trying, my son’s OT (occupational therapist) suggested a potty-routine. This was the first I’d heard of such a thing. The therapist said that each child, whether on the spectrum or not, takes about eight months to train.
As we started using the routine, my son started peeing in the toilet a couple times a week, then once a day, and finally several times each day—every time he needed to go. All the hard work has been paying off. That was about 6 months ago (before the original date of this post).
He still needs someone to initiate for him, but at least he is going now. Initially he needed hand-over-hand to wash and dry his hands every time. But now he washes his hands by himself most of the time. The potty-routine leads to victory!
Update: Spring 2021
He’s had a few extinction bursts with the potty training. Sometimes accidents have come up as rebellious behaviors, like when there was an insurance lapse and he didn’t have RBTs for a few weeks, or just recently before we switched out one of the RBTs on the team who wasn’t a good fit for him. But he’s back to routine now.
It is very exciting how far he’s come! With just a couple steps left, he’s been mostly independent with toileting for a couple years now.
Universe Rules 